HomeAbstract of 11th-rssconfGenAI-Supported Project-Based Product Design Learning: Differential Effects on Multidimensional Outcomes

GenAI-Supported Project-Based Product Design Learning: Differential Effects on Multidimensional Outcomes

  • Jun 22, 2026
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Abstract Book of the 11th International Conference on Research in Social Sciences

Year: 2026

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GenAI-Supported Project-Based Product Design Learning: Differential Effects on Multidimensional Outcomes

Yizhou Chen, KENNY CHEAH SOON LEE

ABSTRACT:

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has gradually been integrated into design curricula to support students’ design analysis, idea generation, visual expression, and proposal iteration. However, its effectiveness in enhancing the multidimensional learning outcomes of product design students within project-based learning (PjBL) remains to be further validated. This study integrates GenAI tools as supplementary learning and design support into a four-week product improvement design course, aiming to compare the impact of GenAI-supported PjBL versus traditional PjBL on the learning outcomes of undergraduate product design students. This study employed a quasi-experimental pre-post design, recruiting 60 undergraduate product design students from a university in China and dividing them into an experimental group (EG, n = 30) and a control group (CG, n = 30). Student learning outcomes were measured using the Product Design Learning Outcomes Questionnaire (PDLOQ), with course grades serving as a supplementary indicator. Results from a mixed-design ANOVA showed that the EG demonstrated significantly greater improvements than the CG in cognitive understanding, problem-solving and creativity, fundamental tool operation, and advanced design application, with the strongest effect in advanced design application. Nevertheless, no significant group differences were observed in engagement and participation or ethical and user-centered responsibility. The study positions GenAI as an interactive scaffold in PjBL and provides evidence for its uneven relation to cognitive, affective, and psychomotor outcomes, with implications for guided AI use in design courses.

Keywords: AI-Mediated Learning; Applied Design Skills; Cognitive Learning; Higher Education; Human-AI Interaction